What can we learn from Pip's experiences?Great Expectations by Charles Dickens

Since Great Expectations by Charles
Dickens is clearly a bildungsroman, just as Pip learns from his
experiences, there is much for the reader to learn, as well.  One lesson is that people
should always appreciate what they have and not envy others; another very valuable
lesson is that people should not desire status and material possessions over what is of
real value. And, a third valuable lesson is that appearances can often be deceiving.
Dickens develops these themes through the character development of
Pip:

After Pip's visit to Satis House to play with
Estella, his perception of his life at the forge becomes distorted by the influence of
his sister's and Uncle Pumblechook's idea that wealth makes a person better.  When
Estella, the "proud young lady" calls him "a common laboring boy" who has "coarse
boots," Pip feels ashamed of himself as well as of Joe.  Having become infatuated with
Estella, he wishes that he were a gentleman so that Estella would approve of
him. 

Then, when Mr. Jaggers appears at the forge one night
and informs Pip that he has "great expectations," Pip feels that he has somehow become
superior to the illiterate Joe and Mrs. Joe, and he asks them not to see him off when he
departs for London.  In London, he makes friends with the "pale young gentleman" who
once accosted him; they spend money that they do not have and enjoy themselves.  Pip
continues to vie for the attentions of Estella believing that she will love him because
he has become a gentleman, and he is yet ashamed of Joe, so he does not return to the
forge to visit. When he does visit, Pip is arrogant with Biddy, displaying his new
snobbishness.

As he remains in London, Pip becomes
disillusioned in his false expectations.  Mr. Matthew Pocket who has the appearance of a
good teacher is ineffective and Pip is unprepared for any profession.  Miss Havisham,
whom Pip believed his benefactor is not; instead, the old convict Abel Magwitch has sent
money for Pip's opportunity to become a gentleman. Estella is cold and cruel, not the
sweet young lady he has desired.  In fact, the only constant in Pip's life has been Joe,
whom Pip has rejected.

Having learned the deceptions of
appearances, Pip redeems himself by caring for Abel Magwitch, who has returned to London
just to see his boy. After Magwitch's failed attempt to escape, Pip tends the injured,
dying man and gives him his love.  Later, Pip rescues Miss Havisham from a fire and is
burned.  After his true friend, Joe, comes to nurse him, Pip realizes how foolish he has
been not to have appreciated Joe's real friendship and love.  Humbled, he returns to the
forge and delights in Joe's and Biddy's new joy as husband and wife.  Pip repays Herbert
Pocket's kindness by procuring him a position with a bank.  At last, Pip learns that the
"greatest things in life are not things," and in so doing, he teaches the learner his
lessons, also.